Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-01-21

beng. However. monsieur, return on
the morning of the execution. l will
reply. if can, yes or no to the test.
If it is no. ! can count upon you. can |
not, TO leave my head to TRANQUILITY
bleed in the pewter basin which will re-
ceive itp'
VERY well. Mons. La Pommerais,
said Velpeau. rising. and with court
eous bow taking his departure.
A moment after DR.. Velpeau quilted
the cell the guard returned and the
condemned resignodly stretched himself
Upon his camp bed to sleep. or---to
In nix.
Four days after. at half-past five
o clock in the morning, Mons. Beau
quesne, the Able Crozier and Mons.
Potus. the Clerk of the Imperial Court,
entered the cell. Nous. La Pommerais,
awakened by the news that
HIS HOUR HAD COME,
Rose and qckly dressing himself, talk
ed ten minutes with the Able, from
Finally DIR. Velpeau entered. On see
ing him Pommerais cried, Il have
practiced-see!' and while the order of
execution was beng read. he closed
his right eye, looking the surgeon fixed
ly in the face with the left eye wide
open. Velpeau bowed profoundly, and
turning toward Mons. Heindrich, the
executioner, who entered at that
moment with his assistants. quickly ex-
changed with him sign of intelligence.
The death toilet was speedily made
n letter of farewell from his wife read
to him by the chaplain, and then. with
his overcoat upon his shoulders, the
manacles unfastened from his wrists,
he started through the corridor under
charge of an escort.
''ln a little WHILE he said to his
colleague, as he passed him on the
threshold; It'll then, ad Lieut.
At sign from the Governor the
doors opened and rolled away before
him; the morning breeze entered the
prison. Through the half light of the
coming day the grand court" sur
rounded by double row of cavalry.
shone dimly in the distance. At the
foot Of the scaifold surged crowd of
reporters sent by the press and line
of gendarmes with drawn swords. Over
there behind the trees you heard the
hoarse murnurs of the crowd. Upon
the roofs and at the windows. ming lied
with the black coats, were a few aban-
doned women. pale from the night s
debauch. in evening dress, and one of
them still clasp.ng a bottle of cham
payne. In the air above the prison
yard the swallows ffoatcd softly to and
fro.
Alone. filling the space and bound
ing the sky, the guillotine cast its
shadow upon the hor zon. its two arms
raised, and between them. away up
there in the blueness of the dawn, you
could still sec the sparkle of solitary
star. Before this funereal spectacle
the condemned shuddcred, then res
olutely
WALKED TO THE sCAFFOLD,
And assembled the steps unaided. Here
the triangular knife shone in the dark
frame, hiding the star.
After kissing the cruciiix. he pressed
to his lips that little messenger curl Gu,
from his head during the death toilet
by the Able and intended for his wife.
Five persons now appeared like sill
houettes upon the scaifold. The silence
at this momont was so profound that
+ the noise of branch broken under the
feet of some curious looker-oR came,
mingled with the vague cries and hid
eous laughter. even to this tragic
/ group. Suddenly as the fatal hour
the last stroke Mons. La Pommerais
perceived standing stra ght up before
him on the other side of the scaffold
his strange experimental. He recoiled
but a second. then closed his eyes.
Rapidly the machine worked; the
iron collar fitted itself, the button
yielded, the flash of the knife passed. a
terrible jar made the platform tremble,
The hair rose upon the mead ut the cleo
trio odor of fresh blood. The echo OF
the noise had not died away when the
executoner. all bloody from his palpi
tatng victim. lifted the head and hand
ed it to the surgeon. Velpeau, whose
fingers, cuffs and clothes were stained
by the crimson stream.
1t was terrible face. horribly pale,
the eyes rolling. the eyebrows twisting,
the mouth in n set grin. the teeth
clashing one against the other; bu
velpeau leaned above 1t and distinctly
articulated in the right ear the ques-
ton agreed npon. Then this man. sc
cool. SO collected, trembled as if with
the ague. as the
EYELIDs OF THE RIGHT EYE CLOSED,